PRAGUE - Glorification of the nation state as the climax to the history of every national community, as the only thing in whose name it is permissible to kill or for whom it is worth dying for, is passing. Generations of democrats, and the horrors of two World Wars, have brought humanity to the realization that a human being is more important than the state.
In the coming century, most states will begin to transform from cult-like objects charged with emotional contents into simpler civil administrative units that are part of a complex planetary organization. This change should do away with the idea of non-intervention, with the concept that what happens in another state is none of our business.
As for the practical responsibilities and the jurisdictions of the State, these can go into two directions: downwards or upwards. Downwards applies to the various organs and structures of civil society to which the State should gradually transfer many of its tasks. Upwards applies to various regional, transnational or global communities or organizations. This transfer of functions has already begun.
PRAGUE - Glorification of the nation state as the climax to the history of every national community, as the only thing in whose name it is permissible to kill or for whom it is worth dying for, is passing. Generations of democrats, and the horrors of two World Wars, have brought humanity to the realization that a human being is more important than the state.
In the coming century, most states will begin to transform from cult-like objects charged with emotional contents into simpler civil administrative units that are part of a complex planetary organization. This change should do away with the idea of non-intervention, with the concept that what happens in another state is none of our business.
As for the practical responsibilities and the jurisdictions of the State, these can go into two directions: downwards or upwards. Downwards applies to the various organs and structures of civil society to which the State should gradually transfer many of its tasks. Upwards applies to various regional, transnational or global communities or organizations. This transfer of functions has already begun.